BookofMormonResourcesNorthAmerica

Monday, December 21, 2015

Alma 22 is the overview of Book of Mormon geography. It is complex and easily misunderstood, particularly with Orson Pratt's punctuation and divisions into chapter and verse. Here I show 3 different formats: the current edition, Royal Skousen's Earliest Text, and my own format, based on Chiasm and the sense of the verse.
Basically, I think there should be more verses to distinguish meaning. The "thus" clauses are summaries. Verses 30-32a in the current edition are a parenthetical, describing Bountiful, and 32b is a thus clause that should be separated into its own verse.
My verse 37 shows the chiastic nature of this summary; i.e., Zarahemla was the land northward and Nephi was the land southward.

Current edition of the Book of Mormon.

27 And it came to pass that the king sent
a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in
all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even
to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the
land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea
east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and
the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla,
through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running
from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided.

28 Now,
the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and
dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the
land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the
borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of
their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore.

29 And
also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashore, whither the
Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were nearly surrounded by the
Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern
parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the river Sidon,
from the east to the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north,
even until they came to the land which they called Bountiful.

30 And
it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far
northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed,
of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by
the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of
their firstlanding.

31 And
they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus
the land on the northward was calledDesolation, and the land on the
southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with
all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the
land northward for food.

32 And
now, it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a
Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the
west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly
surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the
land northward and the land southward.

33 And
it came to pass that the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from
the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their
guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby
they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun
the land northward.

34 Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions
only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. Now this was wisdom
in the Nephites—as the
Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on
every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee,
according to their desires.

35 And
now I, after having said this, return again to the account of Ammon and Aaron,
Omner and Himni, and their brethren.

About Me

I like the way Daft Punk wear robot suits in public. I'd rather focus on the music than the personalities. Same with Internet discussions; I'd rather focus on the information and the logic of the arguments than the personalities. That said, people want to know I'm a real person, so here's a photo of me at the UN in New York.